


The Rain

by BirdInTheCave



Series: The Boy and His Dog [2]
Category: The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: Author Projecting, Emotional Support, Gen, Number Five | The Boy Needs A Hug, Service Dogs, Sibling Bonding, Sibling support, Vanya Hargreeves Needs A Hug, bittersweet fluff, emotionally charged writing, first attempted fluff piece, the second half is unedited, unedited
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-24
Updated: 2020-04-24
Packaged: 2021-03-02 02:00:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,493
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23817295
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BirdInTheCave/pseuds/BirdInTheCave
Summary: Five had just wanted something new-- to get out of this house and get away from peanut butter and marshmallow sandwiches-- and he wants to consider the dog now glued to his side. He enlists the help of Vanya and, though he hadn't signed up for the emotional ride, he couldn't be happier with the experience he got to share with his sister and his newest companion. It meant the world to him.
Relationships: Number Five | The Boy & Dog Hargreeves, Number Five | The Boy & Vanya Hargreeves, Vanya Hargreeves & Dog Hargreeves
Series: The Boy and His Dog [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1714321
Comments: 4
Kudos: 168





	The Rain

Getting to know Dog was a process. It only took until day two with the animal to realize that Dog had a personality almost opposite to Five’s. Dog was easily excitable and eager for affection and love. A hyper little beast that had a wonderful time tracking down Five anytime he jumped somewhere in the house. In fact, he was only halfway through the second day with his new canine companion and even with as big as the Academy was it only took Dog a minute tops to find him after a jump and two minutes tops after multiple jumps. Five supposes that this is where his Police Academy training had come in handy for dealing with Five as his owner.

Dog was sitting merrily at his side in the kitchen, poised like the regal animal he was but surely didn’t act like, while Five sipped at his coffee and worked on finding something other than a peanut butter and marshmallow sandwich to eat. The dreaded Lunch Alarm had gone off again and Vanya had heard it before he’d managed to shut it off and told him to go eat something with a knowingly suspicious look. His family, as he was coming to quickly realize, were brilliant at the hovering part of concern. The most annoying part in Five’s mind, but though they pestered and annoyed him to no end he humored them. Not only was it a good feeling seeing his family alive enough to bother him, but it was a semi-consistent reminder of where he was and an excuse to utilize all the resources now at his fingertips. It took him a while to really remember that he didn’t have to live like the world was ending.

It was different when he was working with the Commission, an assassin able to jump from place to place and timeline to timeline. Back here, in the same body he initially left in, where everything looked the same as it had right before the Apocalypse tore it all to the ground? It was easy to forget that he wasn’t in a position where he was forced to live off cockroaches and barely filtered water.

So, here he was, trying to think of something new to eat while sipping this house’s horrific coffee.

He glances down at Dog who looks back up at him happily. “Maybe we should go out.” He suggests. Dog huffs at his disgruntled expression and Five almost swears the dog was laughing at him. “Don’t look at me like that.” He grumbles, turning back to his steaming mug and swallowing down a mouthful.

He wonders if there’s such a thing as a Cafe that sells dog treats, too. He doesn’t want to deal with Dog giving him puppy-dog eyes in a place surrounded with food but he also refuses to keep feeding him human food. Dogs had different nutritional needs than humans and most human food wasn’t healthy for them either, let alone their dogs. He’d ask one of his siblings, but he doesn’t think Klaus would ever let him live it down if he found out. He’d ask Ben, but Ben would inevitably tell Klaus. He didn’t much care for any of the others besides Vanya. He wonders if she’d know.

He downs the rest of the poor coffee in one go and jumps up into the living room where he’d last seen his sister watching a cooking show on their new T.V. Klaus had decided they need normal entertainment like normal people and now they had a huge flatscreen settled between the bar and the couches. His siblings seemed to enjoy it, though Allison was determined to start up family movie nights now that they had a huge T.V. in the living room.

However, the T.V. turns out to be a blessing because it’s kept Vanya’s attention long enough that she was still nestled in the corner of the couch watching some angry British man yell at a woman. She looks up at the subtle sound of him jumping into the room, sending him a soft smile. Despite the fact she’s off the medication that muted her emotions she’s still very subdued a lot of the time. Five wasn’t surprised to find out that Vanya had depression, she had been through a lot and had had no one to lean on for support through any of it. He’s happy to be here for her now, even if sometimes what she needs make him uncomfortable. His family needed him and since he stopped the Apocalypse for them he figures he owes it to them and to himself to be there for them now.

“Hey,” She greets quietly, her smile brightening just so when Dog came trotting around the corner with his tail lazily wagging. Dog hadn’t been around long but Vanya had gotten over her initial surprise and quickly grew to like the affectionate puppy. Dog, for one, was very attached to Vanya’s nimble fingers scratching behind his cropped ears. She reaches out a hand and Dog quickly walks over and presses his face into her hand. “What’s up?” She prods, absentmindedly scratching the base of Dog’s snout between his bright eyes.

“I had a question.” He starts, stalling for time as he debates whether or not he wanted to go through with this. Vanya was one of the least judgemental of his siblings, right behind Ben and maybe even Klaus, but he can’t help but remember how she’d practically questioned his sanity when he first came back and went to her for support. His trust has been a bit cracked since then but she was still without a doubt one of his favorite Siblings. Her and Ben held a very special place in his old heart, nothing could ever possibly change that.

A few moments pass, the angry man on T.V. demanding one of the terrified employees tell him what the word fresh means while Vanya stares at him patiently and pets Dog. Dog lays his large head on Vanya’s lap, tail thumping against the floor. When Vanya realizes Five isn’t going to continue she softly speaks, “Shoot.”

Five swallows, resists the urge to shuffle his feet or tap his fingers against his thigh, and steals himself for any sort of rejection, “Do you know if there are any coffee shops around that sell dog treats, too?” He asks, voice steady and almost cold as the question rolls of his tongue. Vanya seems a bit surprised by the question, her fingers pausing in their steady massage of Dog’s forehead before the animal nudges her hand to encourage her to continue.

She resumes her methodical petting and sends Five a gentle smile, “I’m not sure, but I can look it up for you?” She offers. Five, admittedly, wasn’t the best with the internet. It wasn’t the most developed back in the early 2000s and Five had no access to it during the Apocalypse and no need for it during his time at the Commission. He was a quick learner, however, quickly becoming better at the newer form of the internet than Klaus much to his brother’s obvious chagrin. He just had a problem wording his questions right for a search engine to really pick up what he’s trying to ask. He had a habit for going far too deep into detail or not giving enough information with no effective middle ground.

“If you wouldn’t mind.” Five nods, hands shoved deep into his pockets and curling into tight fists as he lets the remnants of his paranoia wash out of his system. It’s a good feeling, Vanya just accepting what he needed without even an ounce of judgement in her stormy eyes, and it only takes a couple seconds for him to relax.

Vanya shakes her head kindly, pulling away from Dog to dig her phone out of her pocket. Dog as a look of betrayal on his canine features, sending Vanya puppy-dog eyes she can’t even see as she unlocks her screen and quickly types his question into the Google search engine. “It looks like there’s one about a mile away from the Academy. Small place, family run. Not a lot of reviews but rated well.” She reports, giving Five all the information she’d known he would have wanted. It makes him feel warm, the silent knowing of his sister an impossible comfort he hadn’t realized he’d missed for all those years away.

“Text me the address, would you?” He pulls his hand from his pocket, patting his thigh twice. Dog quickly realized the command for what it was and returned to his rightful place at his side. His neck came up to about Five’s wrist, making it unbelievably easy to reach out and feel the warmth of the animal is the need ever arose. Sometimes the warmth of another living thing was more than enough to ground him, but more often than not he wouldn’t admit to himself that he needed to be grounded in the first place.

Vanya’s shoulders droop, subtle as she shifts to pull her legs up to her chest to rest her phone on her legs. “Yeah, of course.” And just like that Five’s phone buzzes in his pocket to announce that the message was received. Five is more focused on Vanya, however, and how she was trying to hide her clear disappointment.

It doesn’t take long for the pieces to click into place in Five’s mind. Vanya had been alone on the couch for a good few hours now, no violin lessons to teach and no rehearsal to attend. Vanya had always wanted to be included, so much so that it was a constant physical ache beneath his pale skin. They’d talked about it once, when they were much much younger, but Five knew that nothing had changed. If anything, the feeling had likely only gotten worse when their siblings made the choice to leave her out. She’s used to taking it for what it is, letting her siblings push her back and away where no one can hear her crying. She’s used to not pushing for what she wants, or even asking for something small. The only time she’d tried she’d fallen in love with a psychopath and almost caused the end of the word. Five, as narrow-minded and focused as he can be on one task, is very observant when all of his energy isn’t being channeled into stopping the Apocalypse.

“Would you like to come with us?”

Vanya’s head snaps up, doe-eyes wide in her shock. “I-” The words seem to stick in her throat, lips curling around the sentence before her brain had even processed what she was trying to say. “I don’t want to intrude. You and Dog should really bond without the rest of us around, you know? Really, it’s fine-”

“I insist.” Five cuts her off, grinning a bit too widely to look entirely genuine but this time when Vanya’s shoulders drop they’re sagging with relief and Five takes the win for what it is.

____________

The walk to the cafe is made in companionable silence, the dreary atmosphere doing nothing to put a damper on Vanya’s hesitantly merry mood and therefore doing nothing to bring down Five, either. Dog walks at Five’s right, unleashed but maintaining a perfect one-foot distance from Five all the same, and Vanya walks at Five’s left. Her hands are shoved into her hoodie pockets, the collar of her button-up sticking up oddly from where it peaked out from under sweater, and her shoulders are tucked up to her ears but the content smile on her face is all that matters to Five. He doesn’t see her smile often. He’d like to see her smile more.

They take the walk slow, reaching their destination in about thirty minutes, and Five finds the perfect timing almost suspicious as rain begins to drizzle from the gray skies. Vanya grabs his arm, tugging him towards to small shop on the corner as the rain begins to pick up. The jog across the crosswalk, Dog running ahead and stopping under the Cafe’s awning before turning back to watch his two human counterparts. Vanya’s giggling madly once they reach the safety of the awning, mirth lighting up her eyes and Five can’t help the few chuckles that spill from his lips in response. Dog yips, tail wagging at top speed as he takes in the happy humans Five knows he’s quickly imprinting on.

A few more loose giggle stumble through Vanya’s lips as she raises a hand to hover in front of her mouth like her smile was something hide. She looks a Five, eyes brighter than he had ever seen them, and sends him this beaming, ridiculous smile that’s all teeth and uncontained happiness and Five takes the time to commit it to memory. For a second it’s hard to breathe because this-- all of this, going out with his siblings, having petty family fights, having important conversations with the people he loves-- this is what he’s been fighting for for so painfully long and now it’s _here_ and he just doesn’t know what to do with it all.

Dog bumps into his legs, pressing damp fur and the stiffness of his vest into the back of Five’s knees, and the world rushes back to him in all it’s glory and suddenly he’s smiling too. It’s much softer than Vanya’s, more contained, but it’s the most real smile that’s graced his features in what feels like decades and it feels amazing.

He shakes his head fondly, looking in through the glass doors to see the Cafe in all its warm glow. It’s homey, maroon booths and glossy, square oak tables with matching chairs scatters about. The counter sits at the back of the store, even offering a few bar stools that matched the booths. It looks comfortable and it’s blissfully empty and Five wants nothing more than to take Vanya inside so they can sit together away from the cold wind and rain. So he pulls open the door, listening to the bell jingle above the door, and gestures for Vanya to go inside.

Her smile softens, no less happy, and she gives him this understanding look. There’s no pity there, no sympathy either, just an understanding that makes his whole body ache and he almost feels sick because having someone understand him even just a little bit is so incomprehensible it almost feels fake. He knows that Vanya understands, knows that she’s been forced into her own sort of isolation her whole life and she understands the significance of this moment only because it means the same to her as it does to him and this feeling, warm and heavy at the same time inside his chest and making his limbs shake, it’s ineffable.

Vanya walks through the door and Five follows quickly after, Dog a steady constant at his heel.

**Author's Note:**

> This part ended up going in a very different direction than I planned and I had to cut it off since it felt wrong to continue after the emotional scene I shoved onto paper. I ended up having a very important and heartfelt conversation with someone important to me while I was writing the second half of this story. Though it completely derailed the piece I love the raw emotion in it and the moment that it gave Five and Vanya. It unedited and rushed at points and a complete mess thanks to the emotion in it but I promise to get it edited sooner rather than later. 
> 
> Thanks, En.


End file.
